Career & Community

So, What’s New Lately in My SQL Server Training Classes?

By Brent Ozar · September 28, 2026 · no comments

On Wednesday, registration opens for the next round of my live training classes, and you can get access to all my live classes & recordings for just $995. So, what’s been changing with databases & classes lately?

This year, I rebuilt the classes with a new focus:

Fundamentals is about good defaults for new & growing databases
Mastering is about handling edge cases in larger, more workload-intensive databases

I wanted you to be able to just take Fundamentals, and be able to deal with most performance situations on most servers for the first few years of your career.

Fundamentals Week 2026 Changes

In the Fundamentals of Index Tuning day, I focused on good defaults for new tables. I added a module for “How to Maintain Databases in 2026.” I wanted to dig into the differences between index & stats maintenance, explain which kinds of histograms change frequently (but don’t actually affect query plans), and point out gotchas and configuration tips for Ola Hallengren’s maintenance scripts.

In Fundamentals of Query Tuning, I focused on good database-level default settings that will reduce the number of times you need to jump into query plans.

Then, I added an all-new class: Fundamentals of Server Tuning. I wanted to push this down into Fundamentals Week instead of holding server tuning back for Mastering because there are two common wait types that even small servers hit a lot, and I wanted to make it easier for you to get those wait types out of the way. We cover how to measure your server, and then what specific actions to take when your top wait types start with CX% or PAGEIOLATCH%.

The live Fundamentals Week class on Nov 2-5 covers indexes, query tuning, and server tuning. The live attendees (and the recorded attendees) also get Fundamentals of Columnstore, Fundamentals of TempDB, Fundamentals of Python, Fundamentals of Azure Networking, and Fundamentals of PowerShell as a bonus for them to explore over the next year.

You can register now to attend Fundamentals Week live, which also includes the ability to watch the recordings through the end of 2026, or you can just get access to the recordings during 2026 for $695. If you’re not in a rush, and you’d like more time to access the recordings, stay tuned or the 2027 launch on November 1.

Mastering Index Tuning 2026 Changes

Now that this class can focus deeper on edge case scenarios, I started by expanding filtered indexes, indexed views, and computed columns into their own dedicated modules, plus a hands-on lab for attendees to explore all 3.

I added a new module on partitioned tables & views, explaining the pros & cons of each and situations where they’re appropriate. I added a hands-on lab letting attendees pick one of the two features, and then implement it to find out if it makes a specific query faster, or makes the table maintenance easier.

There’s a new module on JSON indexes, demoing the challenges of that feature and covering the key questions to ask your developers before embarking on an implementation. I also added a new module on using the second column of an index via skip scans.

I expanded the modules on heaps, constraints, and foreign keys, and rewrote the module on the T part of the DEATH Method from scratch.

For fun, I added a module on Microsoft’s historical attempts at automatic index tuning in the on-premises boxed product, plus Azure SQL DB, and I explain why Microsoft isn’t likely to get that feature into the on-prem product anytime soon. I even encourage y’all to build something similar, and I talk about the things I’d look out for if I was building it. (I also explain why I won’t!)

If you’re already a subscriber, you can see the updated recordings in your dashboard, or here if you’re on my legacy pre-2020 platform.

Mastering Query Tuning 2026 Changes

There have been so many Intelligent Query Processing features shipped in SQL Server 2022 and 2025, and now that 2022’s gaining adoption, it was time to write these into the class too.

I added new modules & demos showing how the feedback functionality for cardinality estimation, degrees of parallelism, and memory grants work. The big struggle with these demos was actually getting the CE and DOP feedback features to actually work in any meaningful way – sometimes I feel like these are Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster. In a sense that’s good, because they rarely backfire, but uh, they rarely fire period.

Because SQL Server 2022 & 2025 really expanded the number of plans a single query or stored proc can get, I added a new module digging into that, explaining how you can influence it in positive or negative ways. This has real ramifications for people who want to monitor with the plan cache, Query Store, or 3rd party monitoring tools. I merged the Mastering Parameter Sniffing concepts into these modules as well, since that’s deeply related with getting multiple plans per query.

I added a big new module on mitigating blocking. For more than a decade, I’ve relied on reducing blocking by way of indexing, isolation level settings, and investigating deadlocks. I knew I had a blind spot when it came to transitory blocking storms that come & go, especially in situations where the plan cache isn’t working well, and I resolved to fix that with this new module.

And for fun, I’ve got an all-new short module explaining how yes, the NOLOCK hint actually can make queries faster – but explain why it’s not something you’re likely to wanna use for real.

The recordings will be available October 3rd in your dashboard, or here if you’re on my legacy pre-2020 platform.

Mastering Server Tuning 2026 Changes

By pushing material into the new Fundamentals of Server Tuning 2026 class, getting the measurements & CX/PAGEIOLATCH waits out of the way in that class, we can dig deeper into more wait types in this class, and cover more edge case scenarios that I’ve run into in my consulting work.

I’ve reworked several related concepts into one day: RCSI, SI, Accelerated Database Recovery, Optimized Locking, and TempDB. They’re all interrelated, and you wanna make sure you do the right preparation before flipping switches. I’ve had a few situations this year where people flipped situations and inadvertently made the situation much worse – like causing unforeseen AG problems.

Now that Resource Governor is in 2025 Standard Edition, it’s finally time to add a module on configuring & monitoring it, plus a hands-on lab to test isolating reporting queries from web site workloads while being able to explain to everyone what’s happening to their queries.

Finally, it was time to add a module & lab involving using Query Store to rapidly triage problems with a good query plan gone bad, then use Query Store itself to fix the problem. I put this one in Mastering Server Tuning because it’s even effective when you’re using third-party apps that you can’t control.

These recordings will be available in your account after classes finish October 24th.

Sound like fun? Wanna join in? Talk to your boss now and get the credit card ready to sign up on Wednesday. If you’re scared to talk to the boss, I’ve pre-written some handy emails for you. Click on your job title, and you’ll find a sample email that you can copy/paste and send to your manager:

Free, 3× a week

Get my new posts by email

Three posts a week, plus a Monday roundup of the best database news from around the web.